“Oh, but I do know you, Joe,” he somehow managed to whisper in my ear from across the train, “I know you better than you could possibly imagine.”
How the hell did he know my name? I don’t recall anybody talking to me. I was not wearing a name tag. I reached for my wallet, and he chuckled. My wallet was still there. I reached my other hand up to my breast pocket, yep, my cell phone is still there too.
“No, I didn’t steal your wallet. I know things that I couldn’t find out with a cell phone or a wallet. I know your pet dog in the third grade was named Shadow. And you had a cat named Sassy. You named them both after the characters in homeward bound. The book, not the movie.”
I was stunned. I hadn’t told anybody that. Not in decades. I was starting to get a little freaked out. “Who are you, and how do you know me? Did we go to school together? Grow up in the same town?” I couldn’t imagine what he was about to tell me.
“I work for a company that does a lot of scientific research in the field of medicine. We do a lot of work with the human brain. Delving into how it works, and trying to interact more directly with it. We have learned how to read and write memory. You don’t remember this, because it hasn’t happened yet, but you volunteered to be read. Volunteered to have your memory copied, and studied. Well, volunteered to get paid a large sum of money to spend a couple hours in what seemed a lot like an MRI machine. The rest is written in the contract, but all you care about is the size of the check. But let me tell you, they will pay you more if you just hold out a little harder. Your brain is special, and they need you to be the first. Once they’ve copied your memory, they will learn to adapt it to less open minds, and eventually it will expand to most people.”
“Why are you telling me all of this?” I wasn’t sure what this man was saying, but it couldn’t possibly be true. I was most certainly not special. I had the most normal brain around. I did mediocre in school. I have a mediocre job. I ride the public transit because I can’t afford a mediocre car. I’m the epitome of mediocre, and this guy says I’m special? “I think you’re mistaken. You must have the wrong guy, I’m completely mediocre.”
“No, I know who you are, and I know that you’re the right person. We’ve had this discussion before. I’ve had to come back and convince you that you are important, and we need you to make any progress on the project. Yours is the right brain for our scientists to be able to fully map your memory. And they will pay you to do it. Not tens or hundreds of thousands, but tens of millions. You just have to come with me to this interview.”
I thought about this for a minute. I wasn’t going anywhere in life. The job I was doing was pretty unfulfilling. I got a little over minimum wage, but not enough to ever save any of it. I would call in sick as soon as we were in a quieter location. “Okay, I’m not convinced, but I’m curious.”